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I have recently got my vft and it was in pretty good condition i think considering i got it from a local flower shop place. It has lots of heads. But I am unable to trugger the plants. I have only triggered one and that was using a dead fly and i tried using a small beetle like bug and i could not get any of the traps too close. The pot it is in is a pot i got from a larger outside pot and i am thinking it might have fertilizer in it. I know i should repote it but do not have the correct soil. The pot is also fairly tall 10" or so and i have it sitting in a saucer full of water. Is my plant another one that bites the dust or will my plant let that honor go to all the bugs it will eat.

as long as you keep your plant outside, you dont need to feed it. VFTs are like other plants, photosynthesis(spelt ) is their food. the only reason they capture bugs is for supplements. you should never trigger the traps, because it takes away the plants energy.

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The pot it is in is a pot i got from a larger outside pot and i am thinking it might have fertilizer in it.[/QUOTE] you dont need that second pot. just make sure your vft is sitting in a container of distilled,rainwater, or r/o water. you should never fertilize vfts. you dont need to repot your plant. also i forgot to say, your vft needs atleast 8 hours of direct sun a day.

As for the fertilizer, uhoh. You should try and get some new soil. a 50/50 mixture of peat moss and sand should do the trick. If you can't get sand try for perlite or pumice. Or if desperate you can do 100% peat. Get it out of the soil it is in since you say it has fertilizer. Be careful and you should have a happy flytrap for years to come. This link should answer some of your questions, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask. Flytrap care by pft.

1- i, personally, would use long fibered sphagnum moss as a soil, before i would use pure peat. pure peat can become very compacted over time and may harm your vft by not letting the root system breath, causing rot.

2- feeding your vft dead insects usually won't work. the trigger hairs inside the trap need to be stimulated after the trap closes. some people have fed their vft's dead insects. you can attempt this by placing the dead insect in the trap, then use a toothpick to trigger the trap. let the trap close on the toothpick. come back to the trap and stimulate the trigger hairs with the toothpick. as joe dirt said, if your plants is outside, you won't have to feed it, as it will eat plenty of insects on it's own.

3- the traps may not be closing simply because they are old traps. the traps will only open and close so many times before they stop functioning. just leave them be, as they will continue to photosynthesize.

welcome to the forums! there are hundreds of members here that will help you out with any questions you have. there is also a search function at the top of this page, so you won't have to search through hundreds of posts looking for the info you need. enjoy your stay here, and most of all, enjoy your plants!

peace,
technoracer

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.

Also, (and I can't believe no one else here pointed this out) never feed your VFT beetles, or any other bug with a hard exoskeleton. They have to work extremely hard to digest it, which isn't good for them.